Hornets focus on the positive

Varsity - Volleyball

Despite a 4th-place finish in its own tournament, Bishop Moore stays upbeat.

October 9, 2005|By Austin Lyon, Special to the Sentinel

Bishop Moore entered its fourth annual girls volleyball invitational with aspirations of advancing all the way to the championship match.

But by the time the dust settled Saturday evening, the Hornets walked away with a fourth-place finish and a feeling that they need to improve before the postseason.

"This was like a measurement right now of where we are and the things we have to work on." Bishop Moore Coach Luis Pico said. "We're taking the good out of the bad."

Bishop Moore (16-3) won all three of its pool-play matches but fell to St. Augustine Nease 19-25, 25-19, 15-7 in the semifinals and then lost to Tallahassee Lincoln 25-20, 25-20 in the third-place game.

"The competition here was fantastic," Pico said. "There were teams here that were as good as we were, and on any given day, anybody can beat anybody."

After losing the first game and falling behind 7-2 in the second game of its match with Lincoln, Bishop Moore stormed back to score eight consecutive points thanks to the serving of Carla-Marie Valdez and the hitting of Ashley Winn.

Winn finished with nine kills against Lincoln and was selected to the all-tournament team. She totaled 52 kills during the tournament.

However, the Trojans' strong play at the net, specifically from Laura Sroka and Paige Pridgeon, enabled them to come back and close out the match. Pridgeon, a freshman, had 11 kills.

Following an early schedule of relatively easy matches, the Hornets will have a great postseason tuneup in the final two weeks of the regular season. Bishop Moore will face rival Lake Highland on Tuesday and travel to Fort Lauderdale for the Cardinal Gibbons Invitational.